logo
515-Mile Lightning Bolt, as Big as 7,553 Football Fields, Breaks World Record

515-Mile Lightning Bolt, as Big as 7,553 Football Fields, Breaks World Record

Yahoo2 days ago
The powerful megaflash extended from eastern Texas to Kansas City in MissouriNEED TO KNOW
The World Meteorological Organization confirmed a new world record for lightning discharge distance
The powerful lightning bolt, also known as a megaflash, stretched 515 miles from eastern Texas to Kansas City, Mo.
The average lightning bolt size is 10 to 12 milesAn electric weather phenomenon just broke a world record.
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reported on July 31 that a megaflash has set a new world record for lightning discharge distance.
The massive lightning bolt — stretching 515 miles — struck on Oct. 22, 2017, and extended from eastern Texas to Kansas City in Missouri.
PEOPLE calculated that it was roughly as long as 7,553 football fields.
Compared to the new 515-mile world record, the average lightning bolt size is 10 to 12 miles, according to the National Weather Service.
The previous record was a 477-mile megaflash that struck from Texas to Mississippi in April 2020, according to a July 2025 WMO video.
Researchers verified the new record using satellite technology.
The new findings, published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, explained the importance of documenting megaflashes.
https://people-app.onelink.me/HNIa/kz7l4cuf
'Documenting extreme cases of megaflashes — where nearly the entire electrified stratiform region in storms spanning multiple states is discharged all at once — is important for lightning physics to understand the limits of what lightning in expansive charge reservoirs is capable of, and for lightning safety by revealing the maximum extent of lightning hazards from the most impactful individual flashes on Earth,' scientists wrote.
Researchers continued in the newly published report: 'Each new extreme event identified provides insights into the context, locations, and environments conducive to expansive flashes that are necessary to ultimately answer the question of why certain organized convective systems produce megaflashes while other similar systems produce none.'
Read the original article on People
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

NASA Acting Chief Duffy Issues Directive to Speed Up Moon Reactor Plans
NASA Acting Chief Duffy Issues Directive to Speed Up Moon Reactor Plans

Bloomberg

time28 minutes ago

  • Bloomberg

NASA Acting Chief Duffy Issues Directive to Speed Up Moon Reactor Plans

NASA's acting administrator Sean Duffy plans to accelerate the construction of a nuclear reactor that could be used on the moon and alter the way NASA will partner with industry to replace the aging International Space Station. The plans, outlined in directives distributed inside NASA and seen by Bloomberg on Monday, mark the first major policy changes by Duffy after US President Donald Trump appointed him to the role as acting head of the space agency.

Slightly more arrests, fewer ambulance transports from Lollapalooza this year compared with '24
Slightly more arrests, fewer ambulance transports from Lollapalooza this year compared with '24

CBS News

time28 minutes ago

  • CBS News

Slightly more arrests, fewer ambulance transports from Lollapalooza this year compared with '24

The cleanup and dismantling process has begun in Grant Park with Lollapalooza over, and crews are expected to be out for that purpose for the next few days. The weather cooperated for most of the weekend, as air quality alerts for wildfire smoke in the air weakened. A festival spokesperson said attendance numbers for Lollapalooza for 2025 were about the same as those for 2024. They totaled about 115,000 people each day, which is also the daily capacity for the festival. But Chicago's Office of Emergency Management and Communications said ambulance transports from the festival were down from last year, while the number of arrests went up — albeit by a very small number. In 2024, arrests at the festival hit a five-year low. The OEMC said police arrested nine people across the four days. This year, that number went back up, to 12 arrests. As for ambulance transports to hospitals, the number went down this year to 42, compared with 63 last year. Another number that seems to be down is that of items at the festival's lost-and-found, where sunglasses, jewelry, and walkie-talkies were among the items spotted. Organizers said the lost items inventory looks to be a lot less compared to past years. The lost-and-found at Lollapalooza is also something that takes a few days to get wrapped up. Those in charge said they saw a lot less inventory than past years at the lost-and-found, which is set up at the Grand Traditions Room at the Hilton Chicago at 720 S. Michigan Ave. across from Grant Park.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store